I am of no denomination. My church is non-denominational. Who am I ?
I am a believer, a follower, a truster, a lover, a praiser, a worshiper, and a celebrator – of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am born again for the past 15 years.
Jesus replied – “I assure you. No one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say – ‘You must be born again.’ (John 3:5-7 NLT)
Thank you for reading my blog for this day, and may:
The LORD bless you, and keep you. The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.
All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries
#TravelThursday continues, and in this edition we visit Fanning Island – part of the Republic of Kiribati. I’ve never been south of the Equator, but on this visit to the island it’s as close as I got to it – just below 3.9° north latitude. That’s about 250 miles north of the Equator.
I visited during the first week of March of 2006 as part of a 10-day NCL cruise with my family out of Hawaii – about 900 miles due north of Fanning Island. (Back then NCL had to sail to Kiribati and back in order to legally operate a Hawaiian Islands cruise under the Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886.)
It’s the only time in my life that I crossed-over the International Date Line. The local time on Fanning Island is exactly 24 hours ahead (GMT + 14) of Honolulu (GMT – 10). Although the International Date Line straddles the 180TH meridian – it extends way to the east near the Equator so that all of Kiribati’s scattered islands are within a few hours of each other. Fanning Island is thus on the most advanced time zone on Earth, so it celebrates each new day first.
Kiribati has about 120,000 residents, and that includes about 2,500 scattered among 8 small villages on Fanning Island’s 13 square miles. The island is actually an atoll – a narrow strip of land that completely or partially encircles a lagoon.
I did not take pictures of anything before about 11 years ago. Luckily my brother had a camera at the time, and he documented our vacation back then via hundreds of photos – including our day across the line on Fanning Island:
YES – That’s me in that final photo from 15½ years ago. #DearYoungerMe
Join me next #TravelThursday as we visit another location on the face of this earth.
They keep you safe on your way, and your feet will not stumble. You can go to bed without fear. You will lie down and sleep soundly. You need not be afraid of sudden disaster or the destruction that comes upon the wicked, for the LORD is your security. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap.(Proverbs 3:23-26 NLT)
All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries
Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 26TH 2021, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great new day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.
Yesterday afternoon here in my hometown at our local small performing arts theatre downtown I experienced this awesome event:
What do you get when you combine #TravelThursday, #RetroFriday, #SundayScripture, and #Top10Monday ? Well besides a normal weekend here on my blog you also get that music show above. It was essentially the story of the history of this great nation of ours as told through 400 years of music from coast-to-coast. It traveled the country and highlighted the music that emanated from each region. It was quite patriotic and spiritual. It was pretty much a singalong and clapalong as our 4-piece band (led by Matthew Sabatella) performed on stage via numerous musical instruments.
Once we arrived in the 20TH Century I pretty much knew every song performed, and I joined the singalong. The small audience definitely got louder as the years progressed into our lifetimes. It was definitely a “feel-good” 100-minute show.
Be filled with the Holy Spirit – singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts.(Ephesians 5:18b-19)
(That Scripture was featured during an early segment of the show.)
Thank you for reading my blog for this day, and may:
The LORD bless you, and keep you. The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.
All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries
#TravelThursday continues, and in this edition we return to one of my favorite cities in the great state of Texas – Wichita Falls. It’s one of my favorite cities for one main reason – I have 5 family members (and their pets) who live there. I visit them every year.
And if you haven’t already guessed by now – I was there last weekend ! #Vacation
I was there from last Thursday morning through Monday morning (96 hours). I spent quality time with family and pets, and we celebrated my Aunt’s & Uncle’s 65TH anniversary together with a quiet spaghetti dinner at home. (Normally we go out to eat dinner at a nice restaurant (usually a steakhouse) to honor the occasion, but this year we decided to go “low-key”.)
As I wrote about last #TravelThursday we embarked on our traditional Saturday road-trip of a few hours away from the metro area. We went eastward this time along U.S. 82. We stopped for Lunch along the way at Tres Niños – a Mexican restaurant in Nocona. It was pretty good. I enjoyed my plate of a sour cream chicken enchilada, a beef enchilada with chili, a guacamole tostada, rice, and beans. Eating Mexican food has become a tradition within the tradition. I didn’t know that we were going to eat Mexican food on our road-trip, but I had a pretty good idea of it. Once something works – we just keep doing it, and the tradition continues to grow.
Nocona is about 52 miles east of where we started on the south-side of the Wichita Falls area. (We previously visited Nocona on our 2015 road-trip.) From there we proceeded another 22½ miles southeastward to downtown Muenster Texas (our final destination for this road-trip). Muenster is a very German-Catholic town of a little over 1,600 residents. More than 90% of its residents are of German descent. It was founded by settlers 132 years ago. It’s named after Münster Germany. They host German festivals year-round, and tourists come to visit to enjoy the eating and drinking fun. Much of the architecture of Muenster looks very German:
On the return trip back from Muenster we drove the backroads through “Wine Country” where multiple vineyards dot the picturesque hilly landscape. We also drove through the Henrietta area, and we visited a couple of large gift shops / “tourist traps” adjacent to gas stations along the highway. (This has also become a tradition of our road-trips.)
It was a fun 4-day visit to the #Texoma region along the Red River. The sights and sounds on the road were fun as usual. The food was abundant every day. But most importantly I got closer to my family there. Above all – family always comes first.
Join me next #TravelThursday as we visit another location on the face of this earth.
They keep you safe on your way, and your feet will not stumble. You can go to bed without fear. You will lie down and sleep soundly. You need not be afraid of sudden disaster or the destruction that comes upon the wicked, for the LORD is your security. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap.(Proverbs 3:23-26 NLT)
All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries
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